Ben Folds Facts!

Just to let you all know that to celebrate the release of the Retrospective, I'm tweeting out various Ben Folds Facts over on our twitter account: http://twitter.com/theSuburbsUK

Hopefully there's be at least one or to that you superfans didn't know

~A

As per request, all of yesterday's facts (and one from this morning)

Ben's first release was Majosha's "Five Songs About Jesus". It contained four songs, none of them about Jesus. #BenFoldsFacts
In "For All The Pretty People", Ben is playing the bass and Robert is playing the piano #BenFoldsFacts
During the video shoot for "Brick", Robert dropped his wallet and it floated away. They never found it. #BenFoldsFacts
"The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner" material was first performed live at a secret gig in London in April 1999 #BenFoldsFacts
The over-friendly fan getting carted off by security in the "Bastard" video is actually Ben Lee #BenFoldsFacts
The gig Ben sings of in the song Hiroshima was on the 23rd September 2005. The first song he "pounded out" was Bastard #BenFoldsFacts
During the filming of the "Uncle Walter" music video, @BenFolds broke a rib when he dove onto an unprepared Darren. #BenFoldsFacts
To promote the single "Brick", Epic distributed promotional replica foam house bricks with "Ben Folds Five" written on them. #BenFoldsFacts
The 'stick piano' logo used on the BFF album & singles wasn't drawn by Ben, but by Summer Burke, a friend of the band #BenFoldsFacts
Ben Folds Live was inspired by a bootleg of his 1st solo piano show. Ben had a fan download it because he only had dial-up #BenFoldsFacts
Ben Folds is mentioned in the Counting Crows song "Monkey". In return, Ben mentions lead singer Adam Duritz in "Fear of Pop" #BenFoldsFacts
Ben Folds Five were previously known as "Rosetta Stone" #BenFoldsFacts
'Retrospective' contains songs from the Royal Albert Hall, 1999. Ben met Neil Hannon backstage & 3 years later they toured #BenFoldsFacts
The laugh at 2:52 of "Army" is accidental.It belongs to Tom Maxwell of Squirrel Nut Zippers who played tenor sax on the track #BenFoldsFacts
Ben once met a grizzly fate at the end of a video by fellow Chapel Hill-ians "Squirrel Nut Zippers": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ar6YHaH3zs #BenFoldsFacts
"Songs for Silverman" was originally called "Songs for Goldman" after A&R man Ben Goldman. He wasn't happy so it was changed #BenFoldsFacts
Elton John once called @BenFolds & (teasingly) accused him of stealing the riff for Zak & Sara from "Teacher I Need You" #BenFoldsFacts
"Rockin' the Suburbs" (the album) was mostly recorded in an old church in Adelaide #BenFoldsFacts

Follow the twitter account for today's (starting a bit later) and I'll post them in a big blob tomorrow.

~A

Cool, Andy.  Thanks.

An almighty bunch of trivia for the US release day, the first two dedicated to our Australian contingent.

"Rockin' the Suburbs" (the album) was mostly recorded in an old church in Adelaide #BenFoldsFacts
Ben Folds first learned "Tiny Dancer" for a live duet with Elton John in Australia, which never happened because Ben got ill #BenFoldsFacts
Nick Hornby wrote lyrics for the music that became "Kylie from Connecticut" about Elvis' comeback. They remain unused #BenFoldsFacts
The "Fear of Pop World Tour" comprised of only one date: an appearance on the Conan O'Brian show #BenFoldsFacts
The girl in the "Brick" video is Ariana Richards, who played Alex "Lex" Murphy -- the little girl -- in "Jurassic Park" #BenFoldsFacts
The famous phone ringing during "Steven's Last Night in Town" was one of Ben's friends calling from Minnesota. #BenFoldsFacts
The car on the front of 'Super D' is a 64 Buick Electra. #BenFoldsFacts
Ben Folds Five did a Levi's ad, appearing on a huge billboard with the slogan "Home is where you left your keys" #BenFoldsFacts
The Japanese version of "Song for the Dumped" is known as "Kane Kaese" which translates as "Return the money" #BenFoldsFacts <- dedicated to makiko
BFF's version of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head is in F# because @BenFolds didn't want Burt to know they hadn't practised #BenFoldsFacts
(Burt was arranging the strings and called to ask which key they were playing it in. Having not practised it yet, Ben blurted out "F#")
Stood behind @alyankovic & @BenFolds in the Rockin' the Suburbs vid is John McCrea of Cake who did vocals for Fred Jones pt 2 #BenFoldsFacts
The orangutan in the original "Landed" video is called Bam Bam, who also played the nurse "Precious" in NBC show "Passions" #BenFoldsFacts
Bam Bam is now retired from showbiz, but you can help him enjoy his retirement here: http://www.centerforgreatapes.org/residents-details.aspx?id=2
The Australian spoken-word part of "Girl" is Ben's then brother-in-law Andrew Hynes, a fact alluded to in "One Down" #BenFoldsFacts
Despite being twins, Ben's kids Louis & Gracie were born at 11:04pm & 1:54am respectively, giving them different birthdays #BenFoldsFacts (also different zodiac signs!)
Ben said that he first felt successful when he stopped having to move his own tour piano. #BenFoldsFacts
Ben was once taken to a child psychologist for his habit of smashing vinyl he didn't like, & running around ones he did. #BenFoldsFacts
The video for "Rockin' the Suburbs" contains the subliminal message "Korn Sucks" after they dissed BFF in SPIN magazine. #BenFoldsFacts
The person calling @BenFolds a "F*cking assh*le" on WAEA's hidden track is Leo Overtoom, BFF's production manager #BenFoldsFacts
The photographs on the insert of "Naked Baby Photos" were arranged by Robert Sledge #BenFoldsFacts
Episode 5 of Japanese soap opera "Long Vacation" revolved around characters going (and not going) to a Ben Folds Five show #BenFoldsFacts
Ross & Frank, who hold hands in "Where's Summer B?", are two critics who wrote unfavourable reviews. #BenFoldsFacts
Later pressings of WAEA had the argument before Song for the Dumped edited out because it was real & raised bad memories #BenFoldsFacts
BFF's self-titled has no audible swears apart from the tape version. It contains the extra line "so f*ck you" on Uncle Walter #BenFoldsFacts
For a long time, @BenFolds considered himself to be a drummer, not a pianist #BenFoldsFacts
If you listen closely to Brick you can hear a hammond organ being played by producer Caleb Southern #BenFoldsFacts

~A, who remembers all this but recalls very little about his degree.

I didn't know the majority of the trivia...it was fun. Thanks Andy

I think my favourite is the Burt Bacharach one.

~A

Thanks Andy! Keep them coming! I think my first post didn't make it so I'll try again (you may see this twice). I'll have to pull out my original WAEA to hear those comments again. I can remember the "I like that one" but don't remember the "f*cking assh*le" part. Also didn't know that was a real argument.

Like the "Raindrops" story...didn't know who "Ross and Frank" were. Lots of other good nuggets of info in there.

Does anyone remember Sony having an online program in the late 90's where you could play WAEA and the band discussed the tracks and album? I had a primitive computer and service at the time and missed it but I always wondered what comments they made at the time. I was living in Durham about 10 or 15 miles from Ben's house in Chapel Hill at the time WAEA was being recorded. Who knew what a great album it would turn out to be. Mike

~A, who remembers all this but recalls very little about his degree.

I am with you 100%. I had no idea about the Japanese soap.

I had no idea about the Japanese soap.

I even have that episode, but without subtitles I understand very little apart from the repeated use of "Philosophy" (on the radio, and badly reverbed-up when they are supposed to be at the gig) and the exclamation "Ben Folds Five!"

~A

Quote from: Allison on October 12, 2011, 10:36:18 PM

I had no idea about the Japanese soap.

I even have that episode, but without subtitles I understand very little apart from the repeated use of "Philosophy" (on the radio, and badly reverbed-up when they are supposed to be at the gig) and the exclamation "Ben Folds Five!"

~A

HAHAHA. Awesome.

HAHAHA. Awesome.

One day, you can all come round my house for a big Ben party and we'll watch it. Makiko can live-translate for us.

~A

YES. I have been intending on a UK adventure sometime in the next year.

I had saved up for one. And then broke a tooth and paid a shitton to get that fixed.

You can save some ££ by staying with us for a couple nights.

Back to the facts - makes me think we should have another Benvivor.

~A

Thank you so much, Andy!

Quote from: Allison on October 12, 2011, 10:36:18 PM

I had no idea about the Japanese soap.

I even have that episode, but without subtitles I understand very little apart from the repeated use of "Philosophy" (on the radio, and badly reverbed-up when they are supposed to be at the gig) and the exclamation "Ben Folds Five!"

~A

haha, here's a video of the legendary TV Drama "Long Vacation" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Vacation) with English subtitles. It had been aired in Japan in 1996, and the highest rating was 36.7%! Since then, BFF has been very popular in Japan.

[part 1] watch this video from 13:30 to 14:40
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v693424s56JP4gd
[part 2] from 4:10 to 12:25
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v6934262ensxZ5C